From Rockaway To Louisiana Via SJEH

A 26-foot truck loaded with donations bound for Gulfport Memorial Hospital in Louisiana to help hurricane victims departed from Far Rockaway on Monday, September 19. Donations included bandages, syringes, gowns and other medical supplies donated by St. John’s Episcopal Hospital and food, clothing and toys donated by Rockaway Churches United, a consortium of local houses of worship. In the photograph are (from left to right): Claude Lewis Smoot, Church of the Masters in Manhattan, a volunteer truck driver; William Heath, EMT, The Lighthouse; Pastor Leslie Oliver, EMT, The Lighthouse; Luther Sanderlin, another truck driver volunteer from St. Albans Presbyterian Church; Luis A. Hernandez, Chief Executive Officer, St. John’s Episcopal Hospital; Pastor Don Ventura, EMT, The Lighthouse; and Samantha Lawrence, EMT, who was leaving to assist Louisiana medical personnel. In addition to helping to organize donations (two similar trucks laden with supplies had left previously), The Lighthouse, which operates The Rock ambulance company, is sending a team of emergency medical technicians to Louisiana to relieve EMTs involved in rescue efforts.